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Air Force

Whither the F-35’s AN/APG-85?

Frank Wolfe

Friday, February 13th, 2026

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Whither the F-35’s AN/APG-85?

Pictured is a U.S. Air Force photo of airmen with the 56th Fighter Wing loading missiles on an F-35A before a sortie during a Phase 2 Aircraft Generation exercise on Oct. 3, 2025 at Luke AFB, Ariz.

With a radar or without, F-35A iron on the ramp is what some are voicing as a major Air Force need. A 24-page Long Term U.S. Air Fighter Force Structure plan signed by Air Force Secretary Troy Meink and delivered to Congress last October lays out a service need to have 1,558 combat-coded fighters at the end of 2035—at least 600 more than the service now has. The service has over 2,000 fighters—the most numerous being 862 F-16s, yet at…

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